UNITED KINGDOM AUTHOR · FICTION · CHILDREN
Chris Wooding
Also known as: Wooding, Chris
Chris Wooding (born 28 February 1977) is a British writer born in Leicester, and now living in London. His first book, Crashing, which he wrote at the age of nineteen, was published in 1998 when he was twenty-one. Since then he has written many more, including The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray, which was silver runner-up for the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize, and Poison, which won the Lancashire Children's Book of the Year. He is also the author of three different, completed series; Broken Sky, an anime-influenced fantasy serial for children, Braided Path, a fantasy trilogy for adults, and Malice, a young adult fantasy that mixes graphic novel with the traditional novel; as well as another, four-part series, Tales of the Ketty Jay, a steampunk sci-fi fantasy for adults.
THE BEDROOM WAS EMPTY, the sunlight of the late autumn afternoon a pale wash across the crazy-paving pattern of the duvet.
— from Kerosene
Most acclaimed
Kerosene
From GoodReads by Jinx:The:Poet—“ Kerosene is the dark story of a young man, named Cal, by day a quiet social outcast, by night... a frustrated, tormented pyromaniac, burning to feel control over something, anything, in his life and desperate to express himself. It begins as a habit, his playing with fire, but his desire to burn things soon gets out of hand as time goes on, especially when a girl he likes begins playing mind games with him and his only friend, Joel, begins drifting away. It is a story, with devastating consequences of how dark secrets can suddenly become destructive, however the ending was a bit hurried and inconsequential. Although the writing itself could at time be clunky, it was a very interesting and compelling read. I found Cal to be a highly relatable character, especially if one has been in his shoes, as a silent outsider, a lone misfit or a youth tormented with dark and destructive urges ignited from inner rage and powerlessness of teenage life. ”
Pandemonium
2008
It is a world like our own in every respect . . . save one. In the 1950s, random acts of possession begin to occur. Ordinary men, women, and children are the targets of entities that seem to spring from the depths of the collective unconscious, pop-cultural avatars some call demons. There's the Truth, implacable avenger of falsehood. The Captain, brave and self-sacrificing soldier. The Little Angel, whose kiss brings death, whether desired or not. And a string of others, ranging from the bizarre to the benign to the horrific.As a boy, Del Pierce is possessed by the Hellion, an entity whose mischief-making can be deadly. With the help of Del's family and a caring psychiatrist, the demon is exorcised . . . or is it? Years later, following a car accident, the Hellion is back, trapped inside Del's head and clamoring to get out.Del's quest for help leads him to Valis, an entity possessing the science fiction writer formerly known as Philip K. Dick; to Mother Mariette, a nun who inspires decidedly unchaste feelings; and to the Human League, a secret society devoted to the extermination of demons. All believe that Del holds the key to the plague of possession--and its solution. But for Del, the cure may be worse than the disease."Look out, Lethem! Daryl Gregory mixes pop culture and pathos, flavoring it with Philip K. Dick. Pandemonium possesses every quality you want in a great novel, and the good news is it's only his debut." --Charles Coleman Finlay, Hugo and Nebula Award-nominated author of The Prodigal TrollFrom the Trade Paperback edition.
Malice (Malice #1)
ONCE YOU GET INTO THE STORY. THERE'S NO WAY OUT. Everyone's heard the rumors. If you gather the right things and say the right words, you'll be taken to Malice, a world that exists inside a horrifying comic book. It's a world that few kids know about... and even fewer survive. Seth and Kady think it's all a silly myth. But then their friend disapears, and suddenly the rumors don't seem silly after all. Malice is real. Malice is deadly. And Seth and Kady are about to be trapped inside it. PART NOVEL, PART COMIC MALICE YOU CAN'T ESCAPE